ARGENTINA | 03-03-2018 09:25

Feb 26 - Mar 04: What we learned this week

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Opening of regular sessions of the National Congress of Argentina. | Noticias Argentinas

MACRI ADDRESSES
CONGRESS, WITH
ABORTION DEBATE
TOPPING THE BILL

President Mauricio Macri
opened the 136th ordinary
sessions of Congress on Thursday
with a 40-minute speech,
where he confirmed the inclusion
of an abortion debate in
this year’s agenda (as widely
anticipated) but also announced
more unexpected initiatives
such as equal pay for women
and more paternity leave
(see full story on Page 8).

TEACHERS TALKS

With classes set to start in
most of the country on
Monday, teachers remained
locked in pay disputes in 20
of the 24 districts (Misiones,
Salta, San Luis and Tucumán
being the only provinces to
reach agreement). In Buenos
Aires province, a region closely
watched by the rest of the
nation, teacher unions have rejected
the offer of a 15-percent
pay increase plus a 6,000-peso
bonus for perfect attendance.

Federal prosecutor Alejandra
Mangano charged
Valentín Diaz Gilligan with
money-laundering on Monday,
one week after his resignation
as Government House deputy
chief-of-staff over an offshore
account in Andorra.

LUCIANO BENJAMÍN
MENÉNDEZ DIES AGED 90

Former general Luciano Benjamín Menéndez,
who died on Tuesday at the age of 90, was something
of a first among equals in the ranks of the
“dirty warriors” of the 1976-83 military dictatorship
since his 13 life sentences for crimes against
humanity marked a record – far outstripping even
the likes of former Buenos Aires provincial police
deputy chief Miguel Angel Etchecolatz. Most of
these sentences were earned at the helm of the
Córdoba-based, 15,000-strong Third Army Corps
between 1975 and 1979, covering 10 provinces.
The most notorious of over 800 cases against
him were centred on the La Perla concentration
camp, which added an estimated 3,000 victims to
the dictatorship’s death toll, although he was also
convicted for the death of La Rioja Bishop Enrique
Angelelli and two other priests.

Plenty of back and forth over free health and
education services for foreigners last week,
only to return to basically the same place. Bolivian
President Evo Morales’ rejection of reciprocity
in this area last February had led to a a Jujuy
provincial initiative to charge Bolivians for health
treatment in public hospitals (hitherto free),
which was then nationalised as a bill by Lower
House deputy Luis Petri (Radical-Mendoza), also
extending the requirement to university education.
But the latter clause in particular caused
misgivings within the Let’s Change caucus while
Morales promised equal treatment for “Argentine
brethren,” returning the situation to square one.

“Every government (in Argentina) has been
corrupt except my own,” 87-year-old former
president Carlos Menem claimed this week in a
rare interview given to CNN en Español. “Parliamentary
immunity does not protect me and I
do not want it to protect me. Let them investigate
everything they want to (investigate) but I am
not going to hold on to that immunity to avoid a
court case. Every government has been corrupt
except my own,” he declared. Of the many court
cases Menem has faced, two have led to sentences
though both are pending appeals court decisions.
In 2013 he was found guilty for the aggravated
smuggling of weapons to Croatia and Ecuador
in the 1990s, for which he received a sentence of
seven years in jail. In 2015, he was found guilty for
embezzlement, for which he received a four and
half year sentence. Menem has avoided jail time
because of his parliamentary immunity and age.
Currently a senator, he told CNN en Español: “I
have no sentences against me. There are open investigations
and others that have been resolved.”
Critical of both the CFK and Macri governments,
Menem said he “cannot live without politics.”

FOOTBALL FAN
CHANTS AGAINST
MACRI TO LEAD TO
SUSPENSIONS

Guillermo Marconi, secretary-general
of the SADRA
referees union, crossed
a tricky line between politics
and football when he proposed
that continuing hostile chants
against President Mauricio Macri
should result in the immediate
suspension of the match.
The chants started with a draw
between San Lorenzo and runaway
league leaders Boca
Juniors and continued with a
2-2 draw between River Plate
and the Mendoza team Godoy
Cruz after some controversial
refereeing decisions. Macri
(Boca president for 12 years
before starting his political
career as City mayor in 2007)
has been accused by rival fans
of slanting the playing-field in
favour of his club but some government
voices say the political
opposition is orchestrating
the chants. Argentine referees
have been authorised since
2012 to interrupt matches for
xenophobic chants against Bolivian,
Paraguayan and other
immigrant groups. According
to Marconi, the anti-Macri
chants are “discriminatory”
and likely to provoke violence.
Argentine Football Association
President Claudio Tapia ìs out
of the country this week in Sochi,
Russia, in connection with
this year’s World Cup.

The community of Junín has
been left aghast over the rape-murder
of 11-year-old Camila
Borda by José Carlos Varela,
an odd-job man with a previous
record of sex offences. The case
has led to calls for convicted sex
offenders to serve their full sentences
and for stricter controls
following their release.